Donation from Penguins, NHL to help renovate South Park ice rink
The South Park Ice Skating Rink will be renovated soon thanks to a $100,000 donation from the NHL, PPG and the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation.
The renovations to the facility on Corrigan Drive in Bethel Park will make it a year-round hockey facility that features a new surface that will allow ball hockey to be played during the summer.
The ice rink currently closes during the summer season. Other improvements to the complex will include landscaping enhancements, new player benches, a new scoreboard and energy efficient upgrades. The facility will continue to use an ice surface during the winter months.
“We talk to the Penguins all the time about what they can do to help our parks,” Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald said. “They’ve helped us build hockey parks in Boyce Park and Settler’s Cabin, so South Park was next.”
Fitzgerald said the county will soon begin receiving bids from contractors to complete the project and any additional money needed to fund the project will be taken from the general park budget. Fitzgerald said the renovations should be completed within a year.
The donation was given to the park at a ceremonial check presentation during the NHL’s Stadium Series outdoor hockey game at Heinz Field Feb. 25 between the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.
The donation is also part of the 2017 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series Legacy Project, which is an ongoing philanthropic endeavor in which the NHL and the local hockey organization support community organizations in the host city of an NHL event.
“The development of a year-round hockey center at South Park will create many more opportunities for local youth and residents to participate in our great sport at all levels,” Penguins Foundation President Dave Soltesz said in a press release.